PHOENIX – Two images from Game 7 of the 2001 World Series will endure for as long as the memory of the Diamondbacks stealing the World Championship with two ninth-inning runs off of the greatest postseason closer in history.

The first was the astounding flyover of a Stealth B-2 bomber at the end of the anthem. The sleek, powerful, swift machine inspired fervor in the crowd and confidence in this nation.

The second was one swing from the sleek, powerful, swift young athlete who inspires so much confidence that the Yankees are prepared for the transition they face now that so many mainstays appear on their way out of the organization.

Alfonso Soriano won the World Series by hitting a nasty pitch from a nasty pitcher and then the D’backs won it back by scoring two runs off the best closer in postseason history.

The best way to judge a hitting prospect is to evaluate him against the top pitching prospects in the minor leagues. In the same vain, the best way to project how much a rookie will improve is to evaluate his performance against the best pitchers in the majors.

Curt Schilling threw Soriano a nasty splitter that was inches from the dirt. Soriano golfed it well into the left-field seats. It was one impressive moment from a rookie who had four huge moments this postseason.

He won Game 4 of the American League Championship Series with a ninth-inning home run at the Stadium off of Kazuhiro Sasaki. In Game 5 of the World Series at the Stadium, Soriano made a diving back-handed catch of a line drive up the middle with the bases loaded in the 11th inning. In the 12th inning, he won the game with a single to right that scored Chuck Knoblauch from second.

Soriano established himself as Yankee capable of big moments and it’s easy to envision him developing into a No. 3 hitter, once he develops his batting eye, which already has come a long way. Among regulars, only retiring Paul O’Neill (.289) had a higher postseason batting average than Soriano’s .276.

The Yankees are guaranteed for the next five seasons of having Derek Jeter and Soriano as the double-play combination. They have Bernie Williams behind them and Jorge Posada in front of them.

Having those four back up the middle is great news. Better news: Knoblauch has played his last game as a Yankee. His bizarre and rapid decline as a Yankee ended with him batting .056 in the World Series. O’Neill had a strong World Series, batting .333, but it won’t be difficult to find an outfielder – Barry Bonds? – more productive than him to pair with Shane Spencer as wing men for Williams.

Even if the Yankees lose all the possible established regulars either known or rumored to be on their way out, it’s easy to envision them retooling to the extent they have a stronger team than they did in 2001. Anyone not named George M. Steinbrenner III is rational and mature enough to realize there was nothing tragic about the Yankees losing in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the Series to the D’backs.

Steinbrenner, always obnoxious in defeat, is at his best in the winter, nagging his overworked decision makers into retooling in championship fashion.

“I believe this is not our last and we have the makeup and the chemistry and the talent and personnel to do it again,” D’backs co-ace Curt Schilling said. “And maybe it will go through New York again. Who knows?”

Nobody knows. As the Diamondbacks showed by beating Mariano Rivera and ending his streak of 23 consecutive saves in the postseason, there is no such thing as a sure thing in baseball.